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Daniel Jacobs vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko targeted for October 27 in New York

July 6th, 2018 - Comments Closed

By Jeff Aranow: The fight for the vacant IBF middleweight title between Daniel Jacobs and Sergiy Derevyanchenko will possibly be scheduled later this year on October 27 on HBO Championship Boxing at Madison Square Garden in New York, according to ESPN. The fight is still very much in doubt though.

This is title that the IBF stripped from Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin recently when he chose not to commit to the IBF mandated fight against Derevyanchenko. Golovkin would have liked to keep his title with the IBF, but when they gave him a deadline of August 4 to defend the belt, it left GGG no choice but to let the title go.

Golovkin wasn’t about to defend the IBF title on August 4 and give up a big payday fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez a month later on September 15. There’s money in the Canelo fight, unlike the Derevyanchenko match, which would have been like Golovkin facing Vanes Martirosyan again.

Jacobs is still signed with HBO. They’re obviously hoping that the winner of the Canelo vs. Golovkin II fight will show interest in facing Jacobs. It’s unclear whether either of them will look Jacobs’ way. Golovkin is still interested in unifying the middleweight division, which means that he could face WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders if he beats Canelo in the rematch.

If the fight fails to take place on HBO, then Jacobs will surely pass on it, because he’s still under contract with them. That might work out well for Derevyanchenko’s promoter Lou DiBella, because it would set the wheels in motivation for the next available top contender Demetrius Andrade to step in and face Derevyanchenko instead. That’s a more winnable fight for Drevyanchenko than it would be for him to face Jacob, who is a risky fight due to his punching power and hand speed.

Derevyanchenko coud very well lose the fight to Jacobs. That’s a tough fight for the 5’9” Derevyanchenko, as he would be giving away two and a half inches in height and five and a half inches in reach. That’s a lot of size to be giving away, especially when you factor in that Jacobs has faster hand speed and better punching power. Jacobs is also familiar with Derevyanchenko from the two having sparred together in the past, and both of them sharing the same trainer in Andre Rozier. It’s expected that Rozier will be in Jacobs’ corner if the fight takes place.

Derevyanchenko is getting Jacobs at the right time with him coming off of a tough fight against Maciej Sulecki on April 28. Jacobs was hit a lot in that fight and he barely pulled it out in the final round in knocking the Polish fighter down. Going into the fight, Jacobs was expected to have too much power for Sulecki. It didn’t matter that Sulecki didn’t have a lot of power. He still wound up giving Jacobs all he could handle in that fight. Derevyanchenko might be able to improve upon the effort that Sulecki turned in. If so, Jacobs will suffer another defeat. Golovkin beat Jacobs last year by a 12 round decision.